Page Two Purely Commentary By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ WE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE The important national election is over and the tension which was created by the heated campaign is now at an end. Now, it is the duty of every American to declare that he renews his pledge of allegiance to the head of our government and that the unity of our people will not be impaired by the defeat 'suffered by the opposition party. President Roose- velt has a difficult task ahead of him. There is a war to be won. The eco- nomic position of the entire people, and especially _the returning veterans, must be made se- cure. Therefore We owe him all the devo- tion a n d coopera- tion that he has earned in his first 12 years as Presi- dent. THE CHAMP Our President has already written his name in golden letters in American his- tory. His coming term will mark the most important era in the world's his- tory. It will be the duty of our govern- ment to guarantee peace, to collaborate with the nations of the world in averting another calamity like the past two world wars and to assure enforcement of meas- ures which woUld lead to the establish- , ment of the Four Freedoms as basic rules for all nations. To make this possible, we must all pledge allegiance to our Chief Executive. That these human needs may be realized, we pray that our President be granted strength to carry on in time of great stress. The acclamation of President Roose- velt on his re-election is worldwide, and the reason is obvious. He is the key fig- . ure in the fight for decency in the world. He is the spokesman for the democratic way of life. And the world recognizes it. His victory on Nov. 7 surely brings us closer to victory over the Nazi-Fascist forces. PICARD ON ROOSEVELT Judge Frank A. Picard of the U. S. Dis- trict Court, chairman of the Michigan Chapter of the American Palestine Corn- . mittee, is a great wit and is quick on the trigger. He demonstrated it several times - at pro-Palestine meetings he addressed in Detroit. At the Balfour Anniversary gathering ''here at the Shaarey Zedek, an interesting incident occurred. During the question period, a devotee of the late Elihu Root wanted to know the part the late Ameri- can statesman played in efforts for Pales-. tine's redemption. Of course, Mr. Root lived in the days when there was not an extensive movement for Eretz Israel among Christians. But Judge Picard took advantage of an excellent opportunity to make reference to President Roosevelt. He had in his pos- session a copy of "America and Palestine" which was presented to him that night. He quickly referred to the Index of the book, took the floor and called the atten- tion of the audience to the fact that after the name of Rep. John J. Rooney there are very many references to PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT—but none to Mr. Elihu Root. And he made it a point to state that the President has a great share in Palestine's upbuilding. It went over big. The audience knew that a wise judge took occasion to get Roosevelt's name into a non - political meeting. * * A RADIO STORY Just before the election, a Yiddish radio announcer made this statement: "Vote. for D. ... Dos is bezahlt. Ober ich zog eich, Vote for R." It was without doubt the most classic occurrence in the entire political cam- paign. Was it good business? Undoubtedly not. But the sentimental woman an- nouncer just had to have her say in the election—and she did. * * * FOR A COMPLETE VICTORY The worst that was said during the entire campaign, exclusive of "clear with Sidney" and "down with the Reds" propaganda, was the attack on Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. It was most ungracious to say that the Morgenthau plan to deal with Germany was responsible for Germany's new war ardor. This is no time to split our ranks. This is a time for unity—to win the war and to put an end to German aggression for ALL TIME—even if it IS Morgenthau's proposal. THE JEWISH NEWS Slow Poison Flooding the Mail By HENRY HOKE Author of the phenomenal new best-seller "Black Mail" For ten long years, the minds of the people of America have been softened by printed and spoken propaganda. In 1934, the German Govern- ment started its flood of mailed poison from Germany to prepare the way for keeping us unprepared. , Gradually the flood increased •in quantity and scope. There were attacks against each segment or phase of American life. Soon German-controlled agencies in this country were working the printing presses overtime grinding out the new type of pre-military poison. German money then supported native FaScists—individuals as well as organizations— who helped by rephrasing and reprinting the disruptive ideas from abroad. German agents even succeeded in having their mental poison inserted into the Congressional Record and mailed under free Congressional frank. Did December 7, 1941, mark the end of this campaign of words? Far from it! The German agencies were closed, of course. The franking racket was smashed 'by exposure and convictions. The mail from abroad was cut off. But the seeds carefully planted in the minds of the native Fascists have borne fruit for their Nazi planters. The native Hitler-helpers have grown stronger and more numerous. And bolder! Lack of action on the part of our Department of Justice (conscientiously trying to protect freedom of speech) has encouraged the hate-spreaders to use even more violent words in the mail. Hate the Government! . Hate minorities! Hate our Allies! The mails are still being flooded with confusion—a confusion which originated in Berlin back in 1934. In the weeks just ahead, this black mail will be a stronger. and a more terrifying enemy. Much of it will travel under the guise of normal political dispute. We must all learn to identify and dis- tinguish between (1) truth, (2) normal dispute, (3.) intolerant prejudice and (4) 'planned disruption. If we do not, our boys will not win what they are fighting for. We will lose the peace. Heard in The Lobbies By ARNOLD LEVIN (Copyright, 1944 independent Jewish Press Service. Inc.) INTERNATIONAL GRAPEVINE By the time this reaches you, the real facts may be out. The Soviet Govern- ment's ostensible failure to compel the Romanian Government to give effect in life to the abrogation of the anti-Jewish laws has quite a story behind it, accord- ing to people who claim to be in the know. The Soviets are none too happy about the Romanian Government a n d want to see it booted out. Should they do the booting they would be accused of Sovietizing the country. But they wouldn't mind if the Romanian Govern- ment would bring about its own downfall by its actions. The Soviets want the other United Nations to concur in the ousting of the cabinet. The less Romania does to atone for the crimes committed against the Jews, the weaker her position becomes . . Those who contend this say the reports of the plight of Roman- ian Jewry could not have emerged into the light of day if the Soviet authorities were interested in keeping the facts from becoming public. - * * * CHALUTZIM There is talk now of expanding Amer- ica's Chalutzim movement for the train- ing of pioneers for Palestine . . The Zionist Organization of America speaks of "industrial pioneers." Earlier the La- bor Zionists called for the establishment of a large Fund for the training of these pioneers. It appears that the Chalutzim movement which, in the past, couldn't make ends meet and subsisted on the earnings of its members contributed to a co-operative treasury, is in for better days and greater support . . . In this connection it is worth while noting that the Chalutzim movement, contrary to the general impression, was not started in Europe, but right here—in the U.S.A. The late Abraham Solomon Waidstein, one of the early Labor Zionists in this country, founded the Hechalutz move- ment in the United States back in 1906, at least a decade before it was founded in Europe, settling with others on a farm to train for soil pioneering in Palestine . . . The founder of Nahalel, first small holders' settlement in Palestine (estab- lished on Jewish National 'Fund land in 1906), was Eliezer Jaffee, an American Jew . • . The present American Hecha- lutz membership of one thousand in- cludes chemists and soil conversationists. * * * ONE THING TO REMEMBER In appraising Norman Thomas, the perennial presidential candidate of the so-called Socialist Party, advocating peace-at-any-price, remember that he and Lindbergh were extremely chummy in the America First days. * * * MORE THINGS TO REMEMBER Sacha Guitry, French actor, director, writer, of Jewish descent, is under arrest charged with collaborationism. Did the Radio Theater know this when it broad- cast his play last week? .. . Pola Negri, the actress seeking a comeback and get- ting loads of publicity, was once a guest of Adolf Hitler? Remember? You should! Between You and Me By BORIS SMOLAR (Copyright. 1944, JTA, Inc.) EYES ON PALESTINE: We were very much startled to learn that Rear Admiral Charles S. Stevenson, USN (Retired) who was sent by the Hadassah to Palestine to study Hadassah work there, returned to New York with a rather uncomplimentary report . . . We hope that Dr: Yaski, head, of the Ha- dassah medical institutions in Palestine, who is now en route to the United States, will bring a more cheerful report. * * * DO YOU KNOW: The number of Jews serving in the U. S. armed forces would make more than 25 divisions . . At least one third of the Jewish physicians of the nation are serving with the armed forces . . . Thirty-four percent of the Jewish male refugee population of the United States is bearing arms for their adopted country . . Fifty percent of all the rabbis in America have volunteered for military duty as chaplains . . . A house- to-house canvass in a number of repre- sentative cities show that the percentage of Jewish men in the service is in excess of the ratio of Jews to the gen- eral population . . . Twenty-five percent of the Jewish inductees from a typical industrial city are serving in what is commonly regarded as one of the most dangerous branches of the services— the Army Air Force . . . 512 Jewish fam- ilies in America have given a total of 1,791 sons to the armed forces, and 15 of these families have 98 sons in the service . . . Thousands of other Jewish families have given two or more sons to the service . . . More than 3,000 Jewish men in uniform have received citations for valor and merit, often posthumously, and 37 of them hold an aggregate of 403 Such awards . . . Among Jewish service- men from New York City, alone, over 1,100 casualties have already been re- corded and many more remain to be checked . . . All these facts are culled from studies made by the Bureau of War Records of the National Jewish Wel- fare Board. * * * EDUCATIONAL FRONT There are 10,000 pupils attending New York's Jewish parochial or day schools commonly called Yeshivos . . . The school term this year opened with a gain of close to 20 per cent over the previous year. * * * INTELLIGENCE NOTES A survey of physicians of •two boroughs of New York City established the fact that 32 per cent of all the Jewish doctors were in the armed forces . . . These two boroughs represent approxi- mately one-foUrth of all American physicians of the Jewish faith. Jewish war record committees are functioning in over 90 per cent of the cities in the United States having a JeW- ish population of 1,000 or over . . . They are all working under the direction of the National Bureau of War Records es- tablished by the Jewish Welfare Board. Lillian Hellman's "The Searching The Jewish Welfare Board is flirting Wind" would have won the Pulitzer with the idea of sending a highly trained prize, but for one vote. The "vote" was Jewish journalist to various battle fronts fast asleep. It belonged to Walter Win- in Europe to report from there individual chell who would have voted pro, had he heroic acts of Jewish men and women in been present. the armed services. Friday, November 10, 1944 Strictly Confidential By PHINEAS J. BIRON (Copyrighi, t941, by Seven Arts Feature Syndicate) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS How come that Carl Mote, president and general manager of the Northern In- diana Telephone Company and of the Commonwealth Telephone Corporation of Indianapolis, is carrying on his anti- Semitic activities so unabashedly? . . . By way of hobby he edits a sheet he calls "American Preferred," in which he spon- sors intolerant anti-democracy . . . Re- member how busily the two Geralds- Gerald L. K. Smith and Gerald K. Win- rod—were scurrying about during the election campaign? . . . But their score was zero . . . Joel Slonim, the Yiddish poet and journalist who died last week, was a very close friend of the late Wen- dell L. Willkie . . . Joel once confided to us that Willkie was in favor of a Federal statute outlawing anti-Semitism. * * * ECHOES Kiplinger's confidential Washington newsletter has launched a ferocious attack on Secretary of the Treasury Henry Mor- genthau, Jr., for his advocacy of harsh peace terms for Germany .. . The news- letter declares that Morgenthau is re- sponsible for the desperate fighting the Nazis are doing these days. Now it can be told that the Democratic National Committee- rejected a slogan suggested= by one of the country's biggest advertising copy writers. The slogan read: "Better a Fourth Term than a Third World War" ... Out of Germany via the grapevine comes the news that Gabby Joe Goebbels has issued an important new order, to wit: "True Germans do not look at the sky—it is Allied territory." Spokesmen for the Council of Judaism will renew their opposition to the Pales- tine Commonwealth Resolution when it is reintroduced in Congress after the elec- tions. * * * HEROES The heroine of the Greek partisans is Madi Moscowitz, an 18-year-old Jewish girl who -was tortured to death by the Nazi Gestapo for refusing to divulge in- formation they wanted about her com- rades . . A monument to Madi will be erected in Athens. Jochanan Tartakower, recently killed on the Western front, had been in the United States less' than two years when he enlisted in the Army . . . When his father, Dr. Arielh Tartakower, the noted American Jewish Congress leader, re- ceived the tragic news, he did not inter- rupt his work for even one hour, but asked that he be given additional respon- sibilities. * * * ABOUT PEOPLE When Yehudi Menuhin reached France on his recent overseas tour he found, to his amazement, that the Nazi ban on music by Jewish performers had not been applied to his recordings or to those of Jascha Heifetz during the German occu- pation—with the result that recorded per- formances by both these violin virtuosos were constantly broadcast by French ra- dio stations during all the years of the occupation. When pianist Artur Rubinstein was touring Brazil not long ago he found that some government officials were inclined to make suggestions as 'to what composers should be included in his programs—but he refused to accept any such interfer- ence ... This reminds us to tell you that Mrs. Rubinstein, who lives in California, expects an addition to the family. David Warfield, famed actor of another day, will celebrate his 78th birthday this . month • . . He no longer takes an active interest in the theater—but he still pays daily visits to the Lambs Club, the theatre's most exclusive society. From Nicaragua With U. S. Jewish leadership appre- hensive over the plight of their breth- ren in Latin America, it is good to re- flect on the Jews of Nicaragua who boast of prosperity and declare that anti- Semitism is unknown in those parts. They . do complain that there are not enough JewiSh girls of marriageable age for the eligible Jewish bachelors and therefore intermarriage is frequent. Some of the non-Jewish wives try to adapt themselves to the ways of their men by preparing Kosher meals . . . They have no Shochet and no Mohel, and circum- cision is performed by a Catholic sur- geon who learned the art from a Mohel in the course of a European tour. He dons a skull-cap during the operation, and refuses to accept payment for his work.